Helldivers 2’s viral success shatters GTA 5’s all-time player record

Helldivers 2’s viral success knows no limits, as it continues to smash all-time player counts left and right.

The arrival of Helldivers 2 has been nothing short of miraculous and tumultuous for Arrowhead Game Studios. Since it deployed in early February, the game has received rave reviews and has filled social media with clips of how much fun the player base is having.

On the other hand, the servers themselves are buckling and can barely support the continued success. The developers didn’t anticipate the game to be as successful as it’s been, so servers have been at capacity for quite some time. Fans have been left rightfully frustrated.

Despite this, Helldivers 2 continues to march forward, climbing up the Steam player charts & surpassing Rockstar Games’ best-selling title on peak concurrent players.

Helldivers 2 continues to smash expectations

This weekend alone has been a big weekend for Helldivers 2, as it previously jumped over Destiny 2 and Starfield in all-time player count on Steam.

Since then, it’s now vaulted over GTA 5 in all-time player count with its all-time peak over 366,00 players. While it may not seem like a remarkable feat, given the rampant server issues and this metric only counting PC players, it’s mindblowing, to say the least.

Of course, the number keeps rising, as it’s currently sitting around 369,000 players, per Steam Charts.

Helldivers 2 has passed Grand Theft Auto V's all-time peak concurrent player count, now in the top 25 CCU of all time on Steam#Helldivers2 pic.twitter.com/ELd9w3Kdur

— Shinobi602 (@shinobi602) February 18, 2024

Bear in mind, GTA 5’s RP player count isn’t included in this metric, but regardless, it’s an impressive feat nonetheless. Plenty of the replies echoed that sentiment, with fans loving what they’re seeing, along with sharing how these numbers will change when the servers are fixed.

Arrowhead’s CEO mentioned the team is looking to increase its staff post the massive success of Helldivers 2.